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A cryogenic-electron microscopy study of the one-phase corridor in the phase diagram of a nonionic surfactant-based microemulsion system

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Abstract

We describe full nanostructural characterization of the “one-phase corridor” in the “χ-cut” phase diagram of the isooctane-water-C12E5 system. We followed the nanostructural development from oil-in-water microemulsion to a bicontinuous microemulsion, and to water-in-oil microemulsion, as the oil content is increased, and temperature is raised accordingly. We used cryogenic-temperature transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) and cryogenic-temperature scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM). In most of the composition range studied, we were able to apply both methodologies with similar results. This is a first report of nanostructural mapping of the entire composition range, from water-rich to oil-rich, of a microemulsion system, using well-controlled cryo-specimen preparation. The nanostructural sequence directly imaged here agrees well with theory and previous experimental work by nonimaging techniques, and some, partial electron microscopy.

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Acknowledgments

Our work on microemulsions has been supported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF). The cryo-EM work was performed at the Laboratory for Electron Microscopy of Soft Matter, supported by the Technion Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI). The authors thank Dr. Ellina Kesselman and Ms. Judith Schmidt for help with some of the cryo-TEM work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and The Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 3200003, Israel

    Irina Davidovich, Camila de Paula, Ido Ben-Barak & Yeshayahu Talmon

  2. Present address: Tortech Nano Fibers Ltd., POB 9035, Ma’alot Tarshiha, Israel

    Liron Issman

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  1. Irina Davidovich
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  2. Liron Issman
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  5. Yeshayahu Talmon
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Correspondence to Yeshayahu Talmon.

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Dedicated to a dear friend and a superb colleague, Prof. Dr. Heinz Hoffmann on his 80th birthday

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Davidovich, I., Issman, L., de Paula, C. et al. A cryogenic-electron microscopy study of the one-phase corridor in the phase diagram of a nonionic surfactant-based microemulsion system. Colloid Polym Sci 293, 3189–3197 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-015-3773-7

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